Merkel welcomes EU agreement to control migration

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN (AA) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday welcomed an agreement among the EU member states to step up joint efforts to stem illegal migration.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels following more than 10-hour-long negotiations among the EU leaders, Merkel said they achieved significant progress towards a common policy.

“It’s a positive signal that we have agreed on a joint text after intensive discussions on perhaps the most challenging issue for the EU,” she said, referring to the deep divisions among member states on migration.

Merkel underlined that the EU would step up efforts to better secure EU’s external borders, combat smugglers, and would seek closer cooperation with African countries in addressing irregular refugee flows.

“We would like to work in partnership with Africa,” she stressed, and argued for addressing the root causes of the illegal migration.

“It is the only way to really achieve a win-win situation,” she added.

The measures agreed by the EU member states included setting up “migrant camps” inside and outside the EU, where asylum seekers would be forced to stay when their applications are examined by the authorities.

EU leaders agreed that member states, on a voluntary basis, would set up “control centers” on their soil, transfer asylum seekers to these centers and process their applications there.

- 'Regional disembarkation platforms'

According to the agreement, asylum seekers in need of international protection would be resettled in EU member states that are willing to take in refugees. But irregular migrants and economic migrants would be returned.

The agreement also foresees setting up migrant camps outside the EU, which would be named as “regional disembarkation platforms”.

According to the plan, migrants who are saved in search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean , would be transferred to these camps, and their asylum applications would be processed in these centers.

“Such platforms should operate distinguishing individual situations, in full respect of international law and without creating a pull factor,” the EU summit conclusions said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been under growing pressure at home to address the refugee issue.

Her ultra-conservative coalition partner Christian Social Union (CSU) has pushed for unilateral measures and gave Merkel an end-of-the-month deadline.

CSU leader and Interior Minister Horst Seehofer earlier said he would wait for the outcome of Merkel’s talks with EU partners and from July 1 would start implementing stricter measures at Germany’s national borders.

He argued that asylum seekers should be turned away at Germany’s border if they entered the EU from another member state and first registered there. Or if they had already applied for asylum and been rejected.

Merkel has strongly opposed Seehofer’s plan and said such a unilateral move would have “a domino effect”, prompting other EU member states to push back refugees and further increase the burden of member states like Italy and Greece.